Simulation of shock wave propagation in a microchannel by solving the Boltzmann equation

Shock wave propagation inside a microchannel is studied by solving the Boltzmann kinetic equation. The shock wave enters into the channel from the outside partially reflecting from the flat membrane that contains periodic system of shells. Attenuation of the shock wave is traced up to the transition of the flow to the subsonic regime. The kinetic equation is solved by a finite-difference method. The collision integral is evaluated on the fixed velocity grid by the conservative projection method. Two molecular models are considered: that of hard spheres and with Lennard-Johnes potential of Argon at temperature of 300 K. Parallel computations are realized at a cluster by using MPI technology. Graphics of the shock wave attenuation and detailed fields of flow parameters are reported.